• Delivered third quarter revenue of $377 million and narrowed full year 2026 revenue outlook to range of $1.229 billion to $1.237 billion
• Accelerated integration execution to achieve the synergy target by year-end, within eight months of close versus the original 24-month timeline, with actions representing more than $150 million of annualized gross cost savings to support early delivery of the full $115 million annual run-rate net synergy target
• Previewed Project Helix, a new AI-native skills platform that connects trusted learning to verified proof of skills, expected to be broadly available to Enterprise Customers in the first half of 2027

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR), a leading global online learning platform, today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2026. A shareholder letter with additional discussion of the Company’s performance and outlook has been posted to the Investor Relations website at investor.coursera.com.

“Organizations are investing at extraordinary scale in AI infrastructure, but the return on that investment depends on the people who know how to use it,” said Greg Hart, Coursera CEO. “Closing that skills gap is the opportunity we are positioning Coursera and Udemy to address, and we are on track to deliver our original 24-month synergy plan in just eight months as we create greater capacity to invest in innovation. Project Helix brings together the complementary strengths of Coursera and Udemy on an AI-native platform designed to deliver more personalized learning, verified skills pathways, and stronger connections between human capabilities and business outcomes.”

Key Financial Results

For more information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this press release, please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Segment Results

(1) Key Business Metrics presented above represent the combined metrics of Coursera and Udemy, reflecting a unified reporting methodology. Historical combined metrics have been conformed to this unified reporting methodology for comparability purposes, and, therefore, may not equal the sum of each company’s previously reported metrics or be comparable to the financial information presented in this press release, which reflects the completion of the Udemy transaction on May 11, 2026 and incorporates Udemy’s operating results from the date of acquisition. For more information regarding the metrics discussed in this press release, please see “Key Business Metrics Definitions” below.

(2) On a standalone basis for the three months ended September 30, 2025, Coursera reported Net Retention Rate of 89% and Udemy reported Net Dollar Retention Rate of 93%. These legacy as-reported figures were calculated using each respective company’s pre-merger defined reporting methodology and are provided solely for historical reference.

(3) On a standalone basis, Coursera reported 1,724 Paid Enterprise Customers and Udemy reported 17,111 Udemy Business Customers as of September 30, 2025. These legacy as-reported figures were calculated using each respective company’s pre-merger defined reporting methodology and are provided solely for historical reference.

Financial Outlook

Our guidance reflects the completion of the Udemy transaction on May 11, 2026 and incorporates Udemy's operating results from the date of acquisition. Guidance also reflects the expected pace of synergy realization during 2026, and therefore only a portion of the annual run-rate benefit is expected to be reflected in reported 2026 results.

• Fourth quarter 2026:
  • Revenue in the range of $358 million to $366 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $55 million to $59 million
• Full year 2026:
  • Revenue in the range of $1.229 billion to $1.237 billion
  • Adjusted EBITDA Margin target of approximately 14%

Actual results may differ materially from Coursera’s Financial Outlook as a result of, among other things, the factors described under “Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements” below.

A reconciliation of our non-GAAP guidance measure (Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin) to the corresponding GAAP guidance measure is not available on a forward-looking basis without unreasonable effort due to the uncertainty regarding, and the potential variability of, expenses that may be incurred in the future. Stock-based compensation expense-related charges, including employer payroll tax-related items on employee stock transactions, are impacted by the timing of employee stock transactions, the future fair market value of our common stock, and our future hiring and retention needs, all of which are difficult to predict and subject to constant change. We have provided a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures in the financial statement tables for our historical non-GAAP financial results included in this press release.

Share repurchase

During the third quarter of 2026, Coursera repurchased approximately 18.1 million shares of its common stock for $102 million, including commissions. During the nine months ended September 30, 2026, Coursera repurchased approximately 34.6 million shares of its common stock for $192 million, including commissions. Including purchases after quarter-end, as of October 28, 2026, the Company had repurchased more than $215 million of its common stock since the program was announced in May 2026, with significant remaining capacity under its $500 million authorization.

Conference Call Details

As previously announced, Coursera will hold a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2026 performance today, October 29, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time).

A live audio webcast of the conference call and accompanying earnings materials will be available to the public on our investor relations page at investor.coursera.com. For those unable to listen to the broadcast live, an archived replay will be accessible in the same location for one year.

Disclosure Information

In compliance with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD, Coursera announces material information to the public through a variety of means, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), press releases, company blog posts, public conference calls, and webcasts, as well as via Coursera’s investor relations website.

About Coursera

Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. Coursera partners with leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera’s platform innovations — including AI-powered personalized guide and features, like Role Play and Course Builder, and role-based solutions like Skills Tracks — enable instructors, partners, and companies to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, students, and citizens in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business, while learners globally turn to Coursera to master the skills they need to advance their careers. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp. Coursera recently combined with Udemy to create one of the world’s most comprehensive skills development platforms.

Key Business Metrics Definitions

Enterprise Customers

We count the total number of Enterprise Customers that are active on the Coursera or Udemy platforms at the end of each period. For purposes of determining our customer count, we treat each customer account that has a corresponding contract as a unique customer, and a single organization with multiple divisions, segments, or subsidiaries may be counted as multiple customers. We define an “Enterprise Customer” as a customer who purchases Coursera or Udemy solutions via our direct sales force or through reseller and channel partnerships. For purposes of determining our Enterprise Customer count, we exclude customers who do not purchase either via our direct sales force or through reseller and channel partnerships, including organizations engaging through our self service platforms.

Net Retention Rate (“NRR”) for Enterprise Customers

We calculate annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) by annualizing each customer’s monthly recurring revenue (“MRR”) for the most recent month at period end. We calculate “Net Retention Rate” for a period by starting with the ARR from all Enterprise Customers as of the 12 months prior to such period end, or Prior Period ARR. We then calculate the ARR from these same Enterprise Customers as of the current period end, or “Current Period ARR”. Current Period ARR includes expansion within Enterprise Customers and is net of contraction or attrition over the trailing 12 months but excludes the contribution from new Enterprise Customers in the current period. We then divide the total Current Period ARR by the total Prior Period ARR to arrive at our Net Retention Rate for Enterprise Customers.

Paid Subscribers

Paid Subscriber count is defined as the total number of unique subscribers with at least one paid Consumer subscription product that contributes to revenue as of the reporting period. For purposes of determining unique subscriber count, subscribers with multiple paid subscriptions are counted as a single Paid Subscriber.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, this press release includes non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross profit margin, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, and Free Cash Flow, each of which is a non-GAAP financial measure. These are key measures used by our management to help us analyze our financial results, establish budgets and operational goals for managing our business, evaluate our performance, and make strategic decisions. Accordingly, we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors. In addition, we believe these measures are useful for period-to-period comparisons of our business. We also believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in comparing our core business and results of operations over multiple periods with other companies in our industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors, and to analyze our cash performance. However, the non-GAAP financial measures presented may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies due to differences in the way that these measures are calculated. These non-GAAP financial measures are presented for supplemental informational purposes only and should not be considered as a substitute for or in isolation from financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools.

Non-GAAP Gross Profit, Non-GAAP Gross Profit Margin, Non-GAAP Net Income, and Non-GAAP Net Income Per Share

We define non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP net income as GAAP gross profit and GAAP net loss excluding: (1) merger, integration, and restructuring related costs; (2) stock-based compensation expense; (3) amortization of acquired intangible assets; (4) amortization of stock-based compensation expense capitalized as internal-use software costs; (5) payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation; and (6) costs and settlement (gains) losses related to significant and non-recurring legal and regulatory matters, net of insurance recoveries. Non-GAAP gross profit margin reflects non-GAAP gross profit as a percentage of revenue. Non-GAAP net income per share is calculated by dividing non-GAAP net income by the diluted weighted average shares of common stock outstanding.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

We define Adjusted EBITDA as our GAAP net loss excluding: (1) merger, integration, and restructuring related costs; (2) stock-based compensation expense; (3) depreciation and amortization; (4) income tax expense; (5) other expense, net; (6) payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation; (7) costs and settlement (gains) losses related to significant and non-recurring legal and regulatory matters, net of insurance recoveries; and (8) interest income, net. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.

Free Cash Flow

We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less capitalized internal-use software costs, purchases of content assets, and purchases of property, equipment, and software as we consider these capital expenditures necessary to support our ongoing operations.

We believe the presentation of these adjusted operating results provides useful supplemental information to investors and facilitates the analysis and comparison of our operating results across reporting periods.

Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the financial statements below.

Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as: “accelerate,” “achieve,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “demand,” “design,” “estimate,” “expand,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “mission,” “need,” “objective,” “ongoing,” “outlook,” “plan,” “position,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology intended to identify statements about the future. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the development, timing of launch and market adoption of Project Helix; our strategic investment, including the expected benefits or timing of our commercial collaborations; the expected benefits of the completed business combination with Udemy, such as the amount and expected timing of our annual run-rate net synergies and the expected pace of synergy realization during 2026, the outlook for the combined company’s results of operations and financial condition; our continued integration efforts for the combined company; the anticipated utility of our non-GAAP financial measures; our financial outlook, future financial and operational performance, and expectations, including our financial outlook for the fourth quarter of 2026 and full year 2026; and the timing, amount, and continuation of share repurchases under our share repurchase authorization, including our expectations regarding future cash generation and capital allocation priorities, among others. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: our ability to attract, engage, and retain learners; our ability to increase sales of our offerings; risks associated with our ability to develop, market and sell a more comprehensive and AI-native skills platform in a timely manner or at all, and risks related to its market adoption; risks related to market acceptance and demand for our offerings; our ability to maintain and expand our existing content creator relationships and to develop new partnerships with universities, industry leaders, and subject matter experts; our dependence on the supply of content created by our partners; risks related to our AI innovations and AI generally, including the rapid pace of technological change and the substantial and ongoing investment that may be required to successfully compete; risks related to the completed business combination with Udemy, including our ability to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with customers, vendors and others with whom Coursera or Udemy do business, our ability to successfully integrate Coursera’s and Udemy’s operations and business on a timely basis or otherwise in accordance with the standards and obligations applicable to the combined company as a public benefit corporation and as a B Corp.; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the completed business combination with Udemy, including the expected amount and timing of net synergies, and the risk that integration may be more difficult, time-consuming, or costly than expected; the risk of impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets acquired in the business combination; fluctuations in the prices of Coursera stock; our ability to compete effectively against new and existing competitors, particularly as emerging and evolving technologies such as AI may lower barriers to entry, enable new products and business models, and alter industry dynamics; adverse impacts on our business and financial condition due to macroeconomic or market conditions; our ability to manage our growth; regulatory and/or policy matters or changes impacting us or our content creators; risks related to intellectual property; cybersecurity and privacy risks and regulations; potential disruptions to our platforms; risks related to operations, regulatory, economic, and geopolitical conditions; current and future legal and regulatory matters; the impact of actions to improve operational efficiencies and operating costs; our history of net losses and ability to achieve or sustain profitability; fluctuations in market conditions, our cash needs, and other factors affecting our ability to repurchase shares under our share repurchase authorization; our limited operating history; the relative nascency of online learning solutions and generative AI; natural disasters, public health crises, or other catastrophic events; as well as the risks and uncertainties discussed in our most recently filed annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and subsequent filings and as detailed from time to time in our SEC filings. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance, or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate only to events as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.

Supplemental Data

Disaggregation of Revenue - The following table presents revenue disaggregated by product offering for each segment (in millions):

Source Code: COUR-IR

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261029355822/en/

For investors: Cam Carey, ir@coursera.org
For media: Arunav Sinha, press@coursera.org

Source: Coursera